6 ROCKHAMPTON chap. 
fur and the last two six-footers clear the fence and 
make for the edge of the swamp; — a crashing and 
splitting of timber, a critical moment, some meet 
their fate on the ground ; with bold hearts, strong 
muscles and luck others are over, and Paddy is ^'in 
at the death"; but I can't look where, clasping, 
gripping, and tearing at the dogs with his strong hind 
legs, one kangaroo stands at bay in the water, fighting 
tooth and nail for life. 
My last afternoon I spent at the Acclimatisation 
Society Gardens, where they have a splendid collection 
of native plants. Mr. Soutter, the curator, a most 
enthusiastic botanist, ^ave me an armful of tropical 
flowers, some of which I sat up painting until well 
into daylight next morning — how shocked you would 
have been at my burning the candle at both ends! 
After wishing Eric good-bye, and handing him over 
into safe custody for the overland journey by train 
back to Sydney, I drove down to catch my steamer, 
the Maranoa. My cabin was already filled with flowers, 
and there and then, between my qualms of sea-sickness, 
I painted some of them in. 
It was a glorious moonlight night, and the phos- 
phorescent waves lapping against the ship's side and 
sending out live flashes of fire, kept me so fascinated 
by their beauty, that it was eleven o'clock before I 
stirred to go below. Just outside my cabin door two 
men were discussing, in rather loud tones, the merits 
and demerits of Mr. Tyson, the richest man in Australia. 
Then followed an animated conversation between two 
circus men travelling with a "show"; they were 
relating their experiences, and I was unwillingly let 
into some of the secrets of the trade. I learned how 
the boa-constrictor, when he was dead, was carried 
backwards and forwards to the diflTerent colonies stuffed 
Digitized by LjOOQ IC 
